Mid 30's and hurt all the time

like a lot of us here in the forum of similar age... I'm trying to starve off old age as best I can... I have kids that I want to be active for as long as I physically can etc...

I run (2 to 3 x 5 km's a week), I go to boxing (once a week), I walk a lot, and look after my toddler a lot.... and I hurt all the time...

We have a young child, so sleep is at a premium, that is one huge area that needs to be addressed... nutrition is another area I can improve on, but what other little hacks and tricks do people use to get over the aches and pains?

I try to stretch when ever I can, it's at a point now where I struggle to even function in the morning without a few stretches ...

I try not to supplement too much, but I'll have a protein shake if I've had a tough session on anything

Time is also a premium, I think yoga might help, but again, it's trying to find the time at the moment with work and some external studying...

All ears for people to pick this apart... am I too busy probably?

Wildly Boaring

Running is hard on the body

Swimming pool near?

Cycle at all?

Esse85

To me it's the lack of sleep that's the issue.

Sort that and you'll cope much better with the above. It's the key to recovery.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952746#Comment_117952746

to the pool, yes, I am in a gym that has one.... it's a time thing though, If I go for a swim, it takes 1.5 - 2 hours to do

Cycling, I've crap bike at the moment, and takes longer to burn calories

Running is harder, but more time efficient... 5 km = 45 - 60 mins of my time, that's showered, stretched etc...

dave 27

Try get into yoga also, my girlfriend does it and uses a youtube channel to put on the tv and does it every morning but even a couple time a week would work wonders

KaneToad

Yoga would also be something that you could do at home with the children. Win, win.

Peregrinus

Can you be a bit more specific about your aches and pains? Is this joint pains? Is it something you associate with movement or effort? Is it a "bad back"? Does it feel like when you are injured, or when you are weak?

Local_Chap

Are you running your 5ks flat out? Might be more beneficial to slow them down and/or change the distance

The One Doctor

Running/jogging is very hard on your joints. You're damaging them every time.

Take up swimming or just go for walks instead.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952782#Comment_117952782

No, I could run them a lot faster, I could stick to probably 4.5 - 5min/km (circa 22 -25 min run) quite easily if I was doing a run once a week... I'm in more of the 5.5 - 6 min/km region (27.5 - 30 mins)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952779#Comment_117952779

Back ache, yes, it's on old injury, very tight if not stretched

Legs ache, particularly quads and achilleas

Core hurts at times

Shoulders are tight and sore usually, even without an upper body work out (old injury also I suspect, dislocated both in early 20's)

Overall, I just feel tight and weak unless I have a good stretch out in the morning... but the stretching session seems to be getting longer and more complex by the month

Joints on a whole seem to be ok, it all seems to be muscle and tendon aches

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952808#Comment_117952808

I'm gonna stick this in the running forum and see what they say :-D :-D

as to your point, yes I agree to a certain extent, but it's the time constraints I have that makes running the most effective exercise

I did try skipping on soft ground but I get bored easily

Peregrinus

You might benefit from a consultation with a good physiotherapist, particularly if you are dealing with the consequences of historic injuries. Don't want to do anything that might make matters worse!

But both backache and soreness in the core are commonly related to core weakness. And pains elsewhere may also be related, if you are using other muscles to do things which your core muscles aren't doing. You may need greater core strength; for all its other merits running isn't particularly good at cultivating core strength, so maybe add something to your exercise regime to address this.

JimmyVik

My knees are fcuked from cycling.

My GP is big into cycling himself. I told him id started cycling many years ago to get fit as it wouldnt be hard on the knees.

He said that its a myth that cycling isnt damaging to the knees. His are shot too. And many others in his club have bad knees. It wears out your knees over time.

Hes seen so many men take up cycling when they are in their 40s and wear out their knees by their 50s he says.

But besides that once you hit about 35 you start to notice that injuries heal slower. 45 and they heal at a snails pace. Even cuts and scrapes seem to take 3 or 4 times as long to heal than they did before.

Your body just cant recover from injury or stress like it used to anymore.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952758#Comment_117952758

If you want to get fit and stay fit, ime, you need to build activity into your daily life. If you live a cycleable distance to work, ditch the car for example. Basically unless you have to rush somewhere don't think of journey times as the "fastest" way to get somewhere, but rather what is the "fittest" way to get there. (within reason, I wouldn't expect anyone to suddenly start cycling Athlone to Dublin daily etc).

Hard with young kids tbf, focus on things you can control to some degree. Like, you can't control whether your child wakes at night but you can control what time you go to bed to get proper rest etc.

Black Sheep

There's no simple answer to this question really.

When you've got young kids, and are also active, I think people underestimate the level of fatigue that accumulates. Depending on what you're doing with the kid there's potentially quite a lot of extra steps in there. The "get more sleep" suggestion is a good one but unfortunately as we know that's not always as easy as it sounds.

We're skating over nutrition a bit, worth considering if you're getting enough calories or would eating cleaner / tinkering with macros help.

From a training point of view there's nothing to say that you can't experiment and see what improves your situation.

• If you are feeling inflamed and sore then would you feel better if you took a week off training? Seriously, worth considering. At times if we are run down, inflamed and struggling then by not resting we actually just prolong those symptoms.
• Would you consider flipping your schedule so you're boxing 2-3 times per week and just doing 1 run? Or dropping the running in lieu of a body weight circuit and seeing if that felt any different?
• My last suggestion would be to try a strength program and see how you feel after 5-6 weeks. 2-3 days a week of full body training, and keep the boxing. Drop the running just for that period.

There's a lot of "maybes" that you won't know until you try them.

atilladehun

I did a lot of frequent varied workouts like you have mentioned and they didn't help me long term. I ran, the running became easier but the aches didn't. I stretched and did yoga and felt immediately better but it didn't sustain over days. I varied cardio and stretching but nothing was lasting. I also had upper back pain.

When I focused on strength and mobility, by getting a good strength and mobility coach, everything improved. The pain in my back went. My day to day aching went. If I got a pain it resolved quickly.

My muscles weren't strong enough for being a busy person. Stretching didn't have a long term impact because my muscles were tight to protect me from over stressing them. Once I got stronger this all resolved.

You said yourself you feel weak if you don't stretch. The key there is you feel weak and stretching only resolves that for a day maximum. Get strong.

A good coach will properly asses your movement/mobility and slowly build you up to feel good. You shouldn't feel too hammered from a session. For me, as I age I know I want to be a strong middle aged, old aged person.

Thanks everyone for all the advice.... there's a lot for me to take away from here and have a think about...

As I said before, the main reason I run is because it's the most time efficient way for me to do a decent exercise session.... as much as I ache, I do get a lot of(possibly more) benefits, particularly mental, if I have a crap day I just run some hills and I blank out for that run ... But I have to face facts and realise that niggles and aches now, aren't going to go away on their own so easily as when they did when I was younger... rest is another aspect...

I have a year long goal to get to a certain amount of KM, which I'm about 75% at, so I'm going to finish that, take 2 or 3 weeks off and have a serious think on what to do next.....

Cill94

I know people mean well dispensing advice, but a lot of the above is not accurate.

Running is not inherently bad for the joints, nor is any exercise. Core strengthening is not associated with reducing lower back pain.

Pain is complex, and multifactorial. Successful approaches tend to include doing types of exercise you actually enjoy, and trying to be generally healthier (so sleep could be a factor). If you find stretching helps, then there’s no harm in doing that regularly.

A lot to be said for getting in contact with a (good) health professional as well if it persists.

Wildly Boaring

In March I was running 3 times a week, cycling once and 2 days of weights.

Runs were say 3k, 5k and 15k. Cycle 60 to 80.

I was feeling it.

Changed up to 3 cycles. 20, 40 and 60. One run 5 to 10k and 2 days weights.

The difference was unbelievable. My running didn't really suffer over the 10 distance (struggled with anything longer) and my cycling improved a lot.

Kept that up for 4 months or so.

Then we did a charity thing at work so went a bit mad, cycling 6 days a week.

Now cycling 1 day, run 1 day. Weight 3 days, kayaking 2 days.

All good too.

Running puts a lot of weight through the legs. I'm 95kg minimum. And running roads more than twice a week leaves me under performing.....

Also I totally get the head thing. But I find cycling and kayaking just as good.

I'm heading for 40 with 2 kids under 5 too...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117956114#Comment_117956114

thanks for the insight, although I'm probably not even doing half of what you were/are doing :-D :-D

Large bottle small glass

I don't believe in this common conception that mid 30's is some sort of early old age.

I've been active, one way or other all my life; decent level GAA and rugby to 30, ultra endurance cycling up to my early 40's and have always been interested in keeping strong generally through gym and heavy farm work.

At 40 I was stronger than I was at 30, at 40 I was cycling distances that I wouldn't have dreamed off at 30.

If I was you I'd focus on a few areas before I'd go for another single run

1. Learn to move properly. See what you ROM is like for all your major joints and fix any issues
2. Learn to relax/switch off. Meditation, yoga whatever works
3. Learn how to sleep properly; we all have bad habits; screens, too much caffeine, sugar at wrong time, worrying about stuff you can't do anything about at 11pm,4am whenever!
4. Go for a mental health check up. Same as you would get your bloods checked. You will find some low hanging fruit, proactive is better than reactive
5. Get your diet 90% right; it's not rocket science

When you have all that done, get a training routine/program that has a focus on mobility and strength. Keeping strong is one thing you will value as you age

Best of luck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957794#Comment_117957794

I don't believe in it either, what I do believe is that if you don't keep yourself active in your 30's, your latter years are going to be a world of pain... and I don't want that... but I'm obviously doing some (alot?)of things wrong at the moment which has me where I am...

On paper, I'm fitter and stronger than what I was for a lot of my 20's.... it's just painful to maintain it at the moment...

thanks for all the tips to look into.

seamus

I don't know if you've found like I have that the massive reduction in movement in general during lockdowns, etc has made exercise that bit stiffer? Even just the act of getting up, going into work - whether you drive, bus or cycle - gets you moving to some degree. Even the walk from your desk in work out to the toilets or to get a drink is twice as long as it is at home. And that's all been gone. So I find myself much stiffer.

Pre-covid I could just stand up from my desk, and get out for a run and go hard nearly from the start. Now I really need to take time to warm up, the stiffness is very noticeable.

Sleep is of course a big one, forcing yourself to go to bed earlier.

Hydration is another big one that people miss out on. If you don't drink much water during the day and have a couple of beers before bed, then you're going to be very stiff the next morning. Hydration unfortunately is not an easy fix by having a big drink once a day. It's keeping a constant small inflow all day; a pint every 2-3 hours, or a small glass every hour, whatever works for you. And maintaining that on an ongoing basis. Dehydration today won't be fixed by having a big drink, it takes hours, even days to bring yourself fully up to scratch. This is why the bulk of a hangover can be gone by lunchtime but you still may not feel top-notch when you wake the next day.

Stretching is a contentious one. The focus is shifting away from cold stretching and moving towards warm stretching - go for a warm-up run/walk/cycle first, and if you still feel stiff, then stretch. Kids sports in particular are dumping the practice of 15 minutes of stretching and star-jumps, and just having the kids play 15 minutes of games to get warmed up before moving onto drills, etc. No stretching required. Of course, it's a case of whatever works for you. But you might find that getting up and going straight out for a 15 minute walk leaves you feeling much more limber than writhing around the bedroom floor doing stretches.

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957729#Comment_117957729

You're doing as much running as I was when I was in difficulty and doing boxing too.

My point is you could diversify. All that running was though on my joints and may be your issue too

Weights, swimming or cycling

I ran due to time constaints too.

There are weight regimes that can be done in 35 or 40 minutes. Look into ....1 by 20

Cycling can be done in 30 or 40 mins.

Check out "over unders" or do some hill repeats.

Patsy167

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952811#Comment_117952811

It may be worth looking at gait and posture analysis of your running technique to see if its contributing to the issue

Black Sheep

I do think there is a difference in training in your 30s (Mainly injury and recovery related), and that accelerates.

But I also agree symptoms as outlined are not “normal” for the 30s. It’s something to address, it’s not the baseline for an active person.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117958269#Comment_117958269

Thanks for the suggestions, it's definitely something I'll look into

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117958843#Comment_117958843

I got a gait analysis earlier in the year because of really bad shin splints .... I didn't get a proper posture analysis, but the guy who did the gait analysis was an ex physio, so he did a few more checks other than my gait (posture included)...

Overall he had no major snags to point out (actually commented on my "bounce" ?? as good running technique) . New runners and a load of exercises sorted the shin splints in 2 weeks.... he did say I was doing a lot of hill running, which is something you need to work up to, so I flattened my run route. I don't do as many hills as I did before, but could still be an accumulation thing I suppose..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957924#Comment_117957924

You have a fair point there... some days I am very sedentary, even though I could have hit 10,000 steps, majority through a 5 k run, but on my ass other than that...

I've been bitten by cold stretching before, tore a leg muscle which took months to sort out, I do dynamic movement/stretches before exercise now

ittakestwo

I find if you keep up a routine the pain will go. What is tough is the stop starting. During lockdown I had no access to a gym or weights. When I got back into weights last June after six months off my body was in bits. But I kept on going even when muscles were sore and eventually the pain went. I am 37. Perhaps as you get older it is tougher to start after a break. But once your in a routine I don't think there should be a problem.

My brother has problems with his joints and back. The doctor told him that he is about 10kg overweight. Nothing major and very common for the weight to creep on in your 30's. But the doctor says even that amount of weight over your healthy weight can have big impact on your joints particularly if you are doing impact sports like running. Some people lure themselves in to a sense of security of well maybe I am a few kgs over weight but I am fit and eat healthy. Well unfortunately all your joints care about is how much impact and stress you are putting them through and those extra kgs make a difference.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117961977#Comment_117961977

You need to build movement into your daily life. What is your daily routine like?

billyhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117962317#Comment_117962317

Agree with this. Become more physically active. Walk or cycle instead of using the car as much as possible.